Layton woke up and couldn't help but smile at the man next to her who was still fast asleep. It was 9 am and she thought that he needed to rest. She kissed his cheeks and slipped out of the bed. Just as she did, she felt a pair of strong arms wrapping themselves around her waist and pulling her back in.

"Five more minutes, Bellissima," Kiandre said, his morning voice being the sexiest thing she had ever heard.

Layton smiled involuntarily and obliged. Five minutes became fifteen and soon half an hour had passed.

"I'm going to shower."

"Alright, Angelo," Kiandre pulled the covers over him and continued to enjoy the silk softness of the covers whilst breathing in Layton's scent- warm honey and vanilla.

Kiandre's POV:

Layton and I had just finished breakfast. She really is an angel and damn she can cook. At this rate, I'm definitely going to need to work out more. She insisted on tagging along with me today to run my errands and I'm not complaining. I'll soak up every second with this girl.

She just makes the sun brighter, the birds chirpier, the colors more vibrant and for this I'll be forever grateful to her.

"Hey, Bellissima. This is your first time in South Heights, huh?"

"Is it that obvious? I don't want to be rude. I'm just a little nervous," she said.

"I'm here. Nothing will happen to you. Half of these people are giant tattooed softies," I said.

"Oh, so, like you?" Layton snickered and became more visibly relaxed

"Shush! Don't ruin my bad boy reputation," Kiandre laughed and kissed Layton's hand.

They continued with their shopping.

Who would've thought she could make a menial task like shopping something fun? Kiandre thought to himself whilst putting the bags of groceries into the trunk of Layton's car.

Driving to Kiandre's house, Layton noticed him tensing up, like the reality of how they came from two different worlds slapped him in the face. She took the opportunity to place her hand over his which was resting on the gear stick. She gave his hand a little squeeze, letting the warmth of her hand relax him.

The two arrived in front of a small, quaint house.

"Wait in the car, I'll be back in a second," commanded Kiandre.

Before Layton could argue, he was already walking towards the front door, groceries in hand.

She had noticed he had forgotten a parcel and scurried behind him as he was unlocking the door.

"Layton, what are you doing? Didn't I tell you to stay in the car? I don't know what I'm going to walk in on and I don't want you to have to see it," Kiandre said, standing in front of the closed door.

"Layton" he repeated and she didn't like the way her name had come off his lips with a clenched jaw.

"Listen, I'm not some princess with her head stuck in the clouds. If I'm going to be a part of your life, I need to see it for what it is. If you have a problem with that, I might as well turn around and leave now," Layton said in all seriousness.

He looked at her in awe, probably because none had dared speak to him in that manner before.

"Alright, Bellissima."

No other words were spoken as we made our way inside. Surprisingly, everything seemed normal at the Jacobson household.

Leo and Elle had been playing board games in the living room with Quinton, Clarice's quest from last night, while she was in the kitchen preparing lunch.

"There you are, Kiandre. Just in time. Bring the groceries over here, why don't you?" Clarica said, her back still turned against them, not noticing Layton's presence but somebody else did.

Quinton's eyes scanned Layton, like a hunter eyeing its prey. "Let me get that bag for you, doll," he said whilst reaching towards Layton's hands, allowing himself to linger as he brushed past them before following Kiandre to the kitchen.

An unsettling yet familiar sensation was brought to Layton's chest, all her senses screaming to her to 'get out of there' just as they had before.

"Kiandre, who's your girlfriend?" joked Elle seemingly in a better mood than last night.

Everyone's eyes turned towards Layton

"You're really pretty," said Leo in the sweetest of voices.

"This is Layton Cruz," said Kiandre, proud of having her by his side once more.

"Lovely to meet you," said Clarice "Are you related to Senator Cruz by any chance?"

"Yes, he is my father."

"Beautiful and from a good family. Kiandre you should bring her around more often. I'm sure we would all like to get to know her more. You're one lucky fella," said Quinton as he tried to hide his obvious desires towards Layton by clinging to Clarice's side, leaving a bitter taste in Layton's mouth

"I have to go. I'll call you," said Layton before she starts darting out the front door, bumping into Tyler on her way out. Kiandre chased but she was already driving off.

Tyler saw the look of disappointment on Kiandre's face as Layton sped off. He placed his hand on his brother's shoulder, a small gesture yet held a great meaning

"Is she ashamed of all this, of being here?" A piece of Kiandre broke watching Layton leave without any explanation.

"I'm sure she had her reasons. From what you told me she isn't some prissy princess. I will give her some time. This place can be overwhelming. If it wasn't for you being strong for me and Elle when we first moved here, we probably would've run off too," said Tyler.

"I'm going to get ready for work," Kiandre gave his brother a half smile before heading back inside.

Layton arrived home, ran upstairs to her room and locked the door. She hopped into bed, tears streaming down her face, the only comfort she received was from the smell of Kiandre still lingering on her sheets.

She knew what she had to do, go to the one person who would understand what was going on in her head. Layton called Rose and told her she was leaving town for a while to go and visit Jamie. Rose knew something was up with her best friend but didn't pry for more information.

Hours of driving later, Layton found herself breaking down in Jamie's arms and explaining to him what had happened. Layton didn't reply to anybody's messages for the next few days. Jamie communicated with Rose letting her know everything was okay.

Saturday morning, everybody decided to go to the café and hang out.

"Hey, is Layton okay? She's missed a week of school?" asked Nigel, concerned about his new friend.

Kiandre was not the best person to be around. He had moods ranging from hurt to anger to regret this past week.

"Oh, she's probably avoiding me. I took her to south heights and she literally left running," he spoke up. "She hasn't returned any of my calls or messages and when I went over to check up on her nobody got the door."

"It's because she's not home..." Rose said before getting interrupted by the delivery of their drinks.

"Where the hell is she, Rose?" Kiandre demanded to know. He needed answers for Layton's disappearing act.

"Dude, watch how you're speaking to my girlfriend," hissed Cassidy at Kiandre

"Oh, I'm sorry, but the girl I'm falling in love with has gone missing for a week. So excuse me if I don't give a rat's ass about anybody else right now."

"If everybody doesn't calm down I'm going to knock somebody out," said Rose, demanding their attention.

"Falling in love with her? Hey, man!" said Cassidy.

"Yeah, that's the first time I've said it out loud. We cool?"

"Ice ice baby," joked Cassidy as the two fist bumped.

"Now, Layton had a family emergency to deal with, so she headed over to Jamie's. She will be back tomorrow," said Rose.

A wave of relief washed over Kiandre - she wasn't avoiding him, or was ashamed of how he lived; she was just going through something.

Soon that relief turned into hurt, "She turned to Jamie and not me. Well, what did I expect? What does someone like me have to offer to her? And they've known each other their whole lives. That's a bond I can't compete with," Kiandre thought to himself.

Outside Kiandre's house, Elle, Tyler and Elle's 19 year old boyfriend, Josh, were in an argument. Luckily Clarice had taken Leo to the market earlier on. Yelling, curse words and heated gestures were being thrown about.

"What's going on now?" Kiandre yelled, drawing attention to himself

"This is the prick, older than both of us might I add, dating our 14 year old sister," said Tyler, anger evident in his tone.

Josh took a swing and his fist connected with Tyler's jaws, knocking him back.

At that moment, Kiandre saw red. All the anger, frustration and hurt came to the surface as he lunged forward and tackled Josh down with ease and started throwing one punch after another.

Elle started to cry and begged for him to stop but he heard no reason. He was brought out of his rage by the sound of sirens.

"Great! The one time the police decides to show up in this shit town," Kiandre swore.

The cops took one look at Josh's beaten ass and immediately took Kiandre into custody for assault and battery.

Josh ran off in the commotion of things.

"What are we going to do now?" Elle sobbed.

Tyler noticed Kiandre's bag on the ground and reached for it, grabbing his phone, looking for someone to call. He came across Cassidy's name first and without hesitation dialed his number.